


Stand By You

by Burgie



Category: Steven Universe - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 04:37:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9304559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Steven frees Lapis from the mirror and then helps her get home. Takes place during Mirror Gem and Ocean Gem.





	

Lapis had to get away. She would not let the Crystal Gems take her, not again. She wished that she could show Steven exactly what the Crystal Gems had done to her, but she just wasn’t strong enough. She could only replay video clips to send him messages.

“Let me out!” she screamed as best she could. Nobody else had listened to her before. But he did. And he didn’t just listen, he also talked to her. He was her new friend, after all. Her only friend in centuries. Even if he couldn’t help, she somehow knew that he’d find a way to break through whatever barriers he needed to in order to help her. After all, he’d already disobeyed the Crystal Gems, who were clearly his superiors.

Lapis felt the water, and tapped into it so that it would enhance her strength. She showed him how to free her, feeling the last of her power dwindling. It was a new video, after all, not a replayed one, so it sapped what remained of her strength. The water helped. As Steven tugged at her gem, Lapis felt the water create a spell circle that would enhance Steven’s strength.

She knew it had worked when her world went dark again. She felt her body form, the form that she hadn’t taken for hundreds of years. It felt good to have limbs again, and to be able to move. Even collapsing onto the sand felt good. And then she felt someone grab her arm gently, steadying her as she turned around.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling at Steven. At least, she hoped she was smiling at him. It wasn’t like she could see. “It’s Steven, right?” Steven made an affirmative noise. “I’m Lapis. Lapis Lazuli.” At least now she could finally introduce herself. Talk for herself. But she still had to know for sure. She hadn’t ever heard of a gem named Steven, but still… “Are you really a Crystal Gem?”

“Yeah!” he sounded happy about it. And not in a gloating way, like… like he was honoured and genuinely happy to be a Crystal Gem. That was strange.

“But you set me free,” said Lapis. The Crystal Gems had kept her trapped for years. Ever since their leader had trapped her in a misguided attempt to save her. Steven seemed confused by this. Clearly, the Crystal Gems were good to him. Even when one was yelling at him, as she was right now.

Lapis was enraged. First they’d taken her freedom, kept her trapped for years, and now they were trying to take Steven. Or to trap her again. No. Never again. She wasn’t their prisoner anymore, and she told them as much. Being this close to the water, and free again, Lapis could use the water as her weapon. She brandished it as she threatened the Crystal Gems, finally letting out the rage that had built up for so long. And then she turned to Steven.

“Come with me,” said Lapis. He’d saved her, the least she could do was save him. Maybe he was trapped, too. Not like she was, but…

Steven didn’t want to go home with her. Of course. She’d been foolish to hope. And she was foolish to feel crushed by his rejection. She tried not to sound bitter as she walked away. But she could give him one last piece of advice.

“Don’t trust them, Steven,” said Lapis. And then she walked away into a wave, leaving it to crash on the beach behind her. Those Crystal Gems really needed to cool off.

Lapis built a water tower. She couldn’t fly home, not with her gem cracked. But she still had enough mastery over water to build it up. This planet had a lot of water, thankfully. But it still wasn’t enough. Lapis stood at the top of the tower, looking out into space. Maybe a gem ship would pass by, if she was lucky. If she was even luckier, they’d overlook her cracked state. Looking wasn’t much good when she couldn’t see, though. But surely someone would see her. A tower constructed entirely of water would surely catch someone’s attention. Steven appeared. The traitor. Making her think he was her friend and then siding with the Crystal Gems.

“You’re one of them!” she hissed at him, speaking through a water golem. “A Crystal Gem.”

“But aren’t we all gems?” Steven asked. He was so naïve.

“You don’t understand,” said Lapis sadly. He wasn’t in the war, he’d never been in the war, and he’d probably never understand. Maybe it was better that way. “Just leave me alone.”

She sent water golems to fight them after Steven declared that he wasn’t leaving. It hurt that she had to hurt him, after he’d helped her so much. But it wasn’t entirely his fault, she guessed. He’d just gotten caught up in the fight.

When she felt the power of the Rose Quartz gem, Lapis was stunned into letting her water golems collapse. Gems weren’t usually named something other than what they were. And that power was so familiar. The power that had trapped her. It was enough to make her listen.

“Lapis, I’m coming up there,” said Steven. “So please don’t drown me.” He was brave, she’d give him that. Not many would be brave enough to step into a water tower, or to confront a water gem as powerful as she was. She knew that he’d need air, so Lapis gave him a literal hand up the tower. When he emerged at the top, she glared at him.

“What are you doing here, Steven?” she asked him coldly, holding him suspended in a bubble of water.

“This is crazy!” said Steven, referring to the whole situation where she’d used all the Earth’s water to build this tower. “We gems should be friends.”

“Don’t you understand?” said Lapis. “The Crystal Gems don’t care about other gems, they only care about the Earth! But I never believed in this place.” Stupid Earth. If she’d never come here, if the gems weren’t so interested in this stupid hunk of rock, if there hadn’t been a stupid war over this place…

Lapis let Steven fall to the top of the water tower. He seemed surprised that he could walk on it. Of course he could. Lapis wasn’t cruel enough to let him just fall. She walked to the edge of the tower and collapsed to her knees, staring out at the expanse of space.

“I just wanna go home,” said Lapis. Steven knelt beside her.

“Home is important to me too,” said Steven. “That’s why I’m here, to get the ocean back.”

“I’m only using the ocean because my gem is cracked,” said Lapis. “If I could just stretch it far enough…” Now that she was saying it aloud, she realised how stupid it sounded. She sighed, hugging herself. “This was never going to work.”

“Wait, I might be able to help!” Steven suddenly cried. “I have healing powers!” Lapis immediately turned to face him.

“You do?” asked Lapis.

“I know, right?” said Steven, sounding very proud of himself.

“What do I…?” asked Lapis, unsure what she should do.

“Oh. This might be a little weird,” said Steven.

“What?” asked Lapis, confused. Then, she felt something warm and wet slap into her gem. She shivered. Steven was right- that was weird. But the weird feeling only lasted for a second. Then a new feeling began, one that was significantly less weird. It felt like healing, like Lapis was becoming whole once more. Because, really, she was. It was a thousand times better than being freed.

Lapis’ wings were the first to form, spreading out from her now-healed gem. She gave them an experimental flap, and was relieved to find that they still worked the same. She grinned, finally able to see space and knowing that she could get home now. She’d been given back her freedom, her wings, and her sight, all within a few days. And all by Steven. Who, she remembered, was standing right behind her. She turned around and smiled at him.

“Thank you, Steven!” said Lapis, brimming with happiness. Steven wiped his hand on his shirt, looking embarrassed at all the attention. Was that how he’d… oh. Ew.

And, with one short goodbye, Lapis was finally able to leave that wretched planet once and for all. She was eternally gratefully to Steven, of course, and she would gladly have taken him home if he hadn’t told her that Earth was his home. But if he wanted to stay there, then so be it.

Lapis flew on through space, headed for Homeworld. Headed for home.


End file.
